Software Developers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$101,591
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$30,559
23.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$104,544
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$132,150
Kept after tax
$101,591
Worth in national money
$104,544
State rank
15
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Texas pays software developers a middle wage of $132,150, ranking 15 of 50 states and sitting about 2.82% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Texas. It ranks 24 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $132,150, take-home of $101,591 is worth roughly $104,544 in national money. The average comes to $136,450, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Texas's median for software developers is $132,150, about 2.82% above the national figure and 15 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Texas, software developers ranks 24 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Price parity in Texas is near the national base, so for software developers, whose median is $132,150, the adjusted figure of $104,544 differs little from $101,591 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $136,450 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Software Developers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $82,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $132,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $183,680 |
| This salary | $132,150 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Texas | $101,591 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $101,591 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,343 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $132,150 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$9,601 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of software developers in Texas earn under $132,150 and half over. The published range runs $82,600 at the tenth percentile to $183,680 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Texas's $101,591, worked from $132,150. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 24 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $104,544, the adjusted value of that $132,150 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 24 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for software developers in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $82,600 to $183,680; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Texas take-home of $101,591, on $132,150 for work ranking 24 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 24 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $104,544 — the adjusted value of that $132,150 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 24 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $136,450 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $82,600, the highest tenth $183,680, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $104,544.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $101,591 survives, because Texas levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Texas is $136,450. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($82,600) and the ninetieth ($183,680) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Texas's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $104,544 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $101,591 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.